LEIGHTON Hospital has been slammed by the Health Service Ombudsman after a patient died when a routine operation went wrong.

The unnamed man, suffering from advanced Parkinson's dis-ease and unable to speak, was admitted to the Crewe hospital with feeding problems and recurrent iron-deficiency anaemia.

He died a day after an operation to insert a feeding tube into his bowel was 'incompetently' handled, claims Heath Service Ombudsman Ann Abraham, who has highlighted the incident in her annual report for England 2002/03 published last week.

She criticised Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust for the way the man's case was handled, stating it made 'death inevitable'.

The report said doctors decided to insert a feeding tube but an unsuccessful attempt was made to insert it down his throat.

The report revealed that after the patient, referred to as Mr M, had undergone an operation, an X-ray was taken, and staff suspected he was suffering from constipation or a major internal bleed, which transpired to be peritonitis. His brother complained to the Health Service Ombudsman there had not been a proper assessment of his feeding difficulty prior to the attempted insertion of the feeding tube. He also claimed his brother did not have the unaided capacity to give informed consent for the surgical procedure, and that his family was not consulted.

In her report, Ms Abraham said there should have been an 'in-depth' review of alternative means by which to feed Mr M, and criticised the Trust for failing to seek help from relatives about how best to communicate with the patient.

The report states Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust agreed to apologise for the 'sub-standard treatment' given to

Mr M and to implement the Ombudsman's recommendations, including protocols to ensure proper assessment of nutritional status of patients, postoperative reviews and guidelines on consent.

Jean French, chief officer for patient watchdog Central Cheshire Community Health Council, said: 'All the trust can do now is look at the lessons learned and make sure that the same mistakes don't happen again.'

A spokesman for Leighton Hospital said: 'The family's concerns were dealt with through the NHS complaints procedure and apologies were given to the relatives. The trust is taking steps to improve its standards.'